Many genealogists can rattle off a list of the most important heirlooms that have been passed down in their family from one generation to the next. It isn’t so easy to make decisions about the importance of items stored in your basement, or in your relative’s attic. There is at least one company that can help you sort those things.
Family heirlooms are a treasure. Part of what makes them so special is that they are tangible. It is nice to hear stories about how your great-great grandmother used to cook wonderful family dinners using a particular cooking pot. It is quite another to hold that pot in your hand, and use it to make dinners for your own family. Heirlooms that are knick-knacks are visual reminders of ancestors that have passed away, (sometimes before the genealogist who now owns the heirloom was even born).
There are situations, however, where a genealogist will have great difficultly deciding which things are valuable treasure, and which are little more than trash. How can you determine if you should hang onto something so that you can one day pass it along to your children? How many baby items are appropriate to keep? Where on earth do you start sorting out your grandmother’s basement, or your parent’s garage?
These types of decisions can be overwhelming. You might have an emotional attachment to something, but does that make it a valuable heirloom? Even people who are good at organizing can find these sorts of decisions to be difficult, and perhaps even stressful. The basic problem is that you are “too close” to the object, or the environment, or the emotions you feel, to make sound decisions about what to keep and what to get rid of.
Fortunately, there is at least one company that can help you with these types of tasks. In California, there is a company called “Sorters”. They are not genealogists. However, they can provide a service that would be extremely helpful to many genealogists, especially those who are about to clean and organize the home of an elderly relative. There may be a similar service near where you live.
Sorters does some of what you may have seen on shows like “Hoarders”, or “Hoarding: Buried Alive”. They come to the room, basement, or garage that you need help with. They remove everything from that space. Then, they sort it into a category such as: junk, recyclables, documents to shred, donations, items for consignment, and things to keep. The person who hires them can review what has been placed into each category, and make changes if necessary.
This could be a great way for a genealogist to get some much needed help with decision making. It isn’t easy to sort through an attic filled with boxes that haven’t been opened in decades. A company with workers who have no emotional attachment to the items can bring you some perspective about what to keep as an heirloom and what to get rid of.
Image by Lara604 on Flickr